To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 166, NO. 65 | Tuesday April 28, 2009
InDEX
3 · Sudoku
4 · Opinion
5 · Lifestyle
8 · Classifieds
10 · Crossword
12 · Sports
Heroic ending: Forel Davies’
last-minute goal gives Women of
Troy MPSF title. PAGE 12
By alexandra tilsley
Daily Trojan
A staff member was robbed at
gunpoint near 36th Place and Catalina
Street Friday in the first crime west of
campus reported to the Department
of Public Safety in more than a month,
DPS officials said.
According to DPS, the victim was
walking near the location at approxi-mately
8:30 p.m. when a suspect with
a gun approached her on a bicycle
and demanded that she hand over her
property. The victim was pushed to
the ground and hit twice in the back
of the head with the gun before the
suspect seized her purse and fled.
The victim was transported to a
nearby hospital and later released.
The incident is also the first
reported robbery west of campus
since a string of incidents in January.
After that spike, DPS and LAPD col-laborated
to increase their presence
and decrease crime in the area.
“We had a very specific deployment
plan with us and [LAPD] Southwest,”
said DPS Assistant Chief John
Thomas. “We had pretty much no
incidents over there at all because of
the directed patrol, the high visibility
and the combined efforts of both DPS
and Southwest LAPD.”
Thomas said both DPS and LAPD
responded immediately to Friday’s
incident, and was able to recover some
of the victim’s property because the
suspect discarded it as he rode away.
Using a combination of informa-tion
from the victim and information
from the officers who responded to
the incident, LAPD has leads in the
case and hopes to make an arrest
soon, Thomas said.
Suspect robs
staff member
at gunpoint
DPS officials say LAPD has
leads in the investigation and
hopes to make an arrest soon.
By Nancy Martinez
Daily Trojan
With 152 deaths suspected to be caused by swine flu in
Mexico and 11 reported cases of infection in California,
news of the virus has led USC officials to warn students
to take precautions against catching and spreading the
virus.
An e-mail from Student Affairs sent to all USC stu-dents
Tuesday described the virus and its symptoms,
asking students to be cautious and to wash their hands
frequently.
“We’re monitoring the situation along with health au-thorities
and government officials,” said James Grant, di-rector
of USC Media Relations. “This is a precautionary
measure to be certain that, in case the situation were to
go worse, people would know how to respond.”
There have not been any reported cases of swine flu
at USC or within Los Angeles County, and USC officials
said the e-mail was simply a safety measure in the wake
of national and international concerns over the virus.
“It’s clear from what federal authorities have said that
there is no cause for widespread alarm,” Grant said.
Terrence O’Sullivan, an expert in catastrophic disease
epidemics and an assistant professor at the University
of Akron in Ohio who worked at the USC Center for
Homeland Security, said he does not believe it is like-ly
that the swine flu will become a pandemic, and said
there is a difference between an epidemic disease and
a pandemic.
A pandemic disease is a new virus that meets three
requirements: it is unknown to humans, it is transmit-ted
human-to-human, and it causes severe disease or is
widespread.
“It’s a brand-new influenza of serious concern but is
not yet an epidemic — just an outbreak. It only has two
out of three of the main characteristics of a pandemic,”
O’Sullivan said. “This may very much end up being a
mild outbreak.”
The chances of the flu becoming a pandemic are slim
Officials warn
students as flu
cases spread
USC sent students an e-mail asking them to take
extra health precautions in wake of the virus.
| see flu, page 3 |
By laura nelson
Daily Trojan
A year rife with high-profile crime,
including multiple sexual assaults, two
stabbings, a shooting and a fatal hit-and-run,
has left officials wary of potential
damage to USC’s public image.
Seeing USC splashed over front pages
and websites — a level of crime-related
publicity officials have called “extraordi-nary”
and “highly unusual” — has raised
questions about the university’s reputa-tion
and the repercussions of this year’s
incidents.
Universities are institutions that have
spikes and falls in popularity, said James
Grant, director of USC Media Relations.
He said he believes the influx of crime
and media coverage will pass.
“This has been a very unusual year in
terms of high-profile incidents that have
received national attention,” Grant said.
“I’m not 100 percent sure whether this
has had a negative impact on us or not;
we hope that it wouldn’t.”
Director of Public Relations Studies
and Strategic PR Center at Annenberg
School for Communication Jerry
Swerling said although people may be-lieve
stories involving crime and USC
have tarnished the university’s image,
the headlines will not be harmful from
a public relations standpoint if the situa-tion
does not worsen.
“Will these crimes cause serious reper-cussions
for the university on a scale of
one to 10?” Swerling said. “It’s extremely
important, but would I give it a nine or
10? No. Probably a five or six, unless
these crimes continue to happen.”
Because the university has only seen
an uptick in high-profile crimes over the
last year, the events are still sporadic
enough to not raise alarm, Swerling
said.
“Each of these incidents individually
has been a terrible event, but we haven’t
seen something like a ‘crime wave’ yet,”
Swerling said. “If we saw something spe-cifically
orchestrated against students,
or if we run into another series of crimes,
and if these events become [sustained]
over a period of time, then that has the
potential to cause problems.”
Department of Public Safety Capt.
David Carlisle said he has not noticed a
“crime wave” or trend, and crime itself
is on a general downward trend: Violent
crime has decreased by 53 percent in the
last two years, and robberies are down 59
percent since last year in the USC area.
“A larger percentage of our crimes
have become high-profile,” Carlisle said.
“But when you associate a crime with the
USC name, we are such a high-profile
brand that it’s just going to generate
University’s image not shaken by crime, students say
Many upperclassmen say they have
noticed different types of crime near
USC, but have become ‘numb’ to it.
| see reaction, page 2 |
Thursday
The impact of this year’s crime and area
safety on local community members.
Check out the Daily Trojan’s
coverage of how this year has
affected safety at USC.
Crime & Safety
Adriano Goldschmied, founder of Diesel, and Jerome Dahan, founder and chief executive
officer of Citizens of Humanity, spoke Monday in Harris Hall as part of a fashion lecture
series sponsored by the Roski School of Fine Arts and the Marshall School of Business.
Captains of fashion Amaresh Sundaram Kuppuswamy | Daily Trojan
How to avoid swine flu:
v
v
v
v
Wash your hands often with both soap
and hot water.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose and
mouth, which are easy places to spread
germs.
Cover your mouth and nose when you
sneeze or cough and wash your hands
afterward.
If you develop a fever or other symp-toms
of the flu, including cough or sore
throat, see a doctor immediately, es-pecially
if you have had contact with
someone who recently had swine flu or
a severe respiratory illness.
Leon Russo | Daily Trojan
Special Wednesday Supplement:
The Daily Trojan examines
Obama’s first 100 days.

Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 166, NO. 65 | Tuesday April 28, 2009
InDEX
3 · Sudoku
4 · Opinion
5 · Lifestyle
8 · Classifieds
10 · Crossword
12 · Sports
Heroic ending: Forel Davies’
last-minute goal gives Women of
Troy MPSF title. PAGE 12
By alexandra tilsley
Daily Trojan
A staff member was robbed at
gunpoint near 36th Place and Catalina
Street Friday in the first crime west of
campus reported to the Department
of Public Safety in more than a month,
DPS officials said.
According to DPS, the victim was
walking near the location at approxi-mately
8:30 p.m. when a suspect with
a gun approached her on a bicycle
and demanded that she hand over her
property. The victim was pushed to
the ground and hit twice in the back
of the head with the gun before the
suspect seized her purse and fled.
The victim was transported to a
nearby hospital and later released.
The incident is also the first
reported robbery west of campus
since a string of incidents in January.
After that spike, DPS and LAPD col-laborated
to increase their presence
and decrease crime in the area.
“We had a very specific deployment
plan with us and [LAPD] Southwest,”
said DPS Assistant Chief John
Thomas. “We had pretty much no
incidents over there at all because of
the directed patrol, the high visibility
and the combined efforts of both DPS
and Southwest LAPD.”
Thomas said both DPS and LAPD
responded immediately to Friday’s
incident, and was able to recover some
of the victim’s property because the
suspect discarded it as he rode away.
Using a combination of informa-tion
from the victim and information
from the officers who responded to
the incident, LAPD has leads in the
case and hopes to make an arrest
soon, Thomas said.
Suspect robs
staff member
at gunpoint
DPS officials say LAPD has
leads in the investigation and
hopes to make an arrest soon.
By Nancy Martinez
Daily Trojan
With 152 deaths suspected to be caused by swine flu in
Mexico and 11 reported cases of infection in California,
news of the virus has led USC officials to warn students
to take precautions against catching and spreading the
virus.
An e-mail from Student Affairs sent to all USC stu-dents
Tuesday described the virus and its symptoms,
asking students to be cautious and to wash their hands
frequently.
“We’re monitoring the situation along with health au-thorities
and government officials,” said James Grant, di-rector
of USC Media Relations. “This is a precautionary
measure to be certain that, in case the situation were to
go worse, people would know how to respond.”
There have not been any reported cases of swine flu
at USC or within Los Angeles County, and USC officials
said the e-mail was simply a safety measure in the wake
of national and international concerns over the virus.
“It’s clear from what federal authorities have said that
there is no cause for widespread alarm,” Grant said.
Terrence O’Sullivan, an expert in catastrophic disease
epidemics and an assistant professor at the University
of Akron in Ohio who worked at the USC Center for
Homeland Security, said he does not believe it is like-ly
that the swine flu will become a pandemic, and said
there is a difference between an epidemic disease and
a pandemic.
A pandemic disease is a new virus that meets three
requirements: it is unknown to humans, it is transmit-ted
human-to-human, and it causes severe disease or is
widespread.
“It’s a brand-new influenza of serious concern but is
not yet an epidemic — just an outbreak. It only has two
out of three of the main characteristics of a pandemic,”
O’Sullivan said. “This may very much end up being a
mild outbreak.”
The chances of the flu becoming a pandemic are slim
Officials warn
students as flu
cases spread
USC sent students an e-mail asking them to take
extra health precautions in wake of the virus.
| see flu, page 3 |
By laura nelson
Daily Trojan
A year rife with high-profile crime,
including multiple sexual assaults, two
stabbings, a shooting and a fatal hit-and-run,
has left officials wary of potential
damage to USC’s public image.
Seeing USC splashed over front pages
and websites — a level of crime-related
publicity officials have called “extraordi-nary”
and “highly unusual” — has raised
questions about the university’s reputa-tion
and the repercussions of this year’s
incidents.
Universities are institutions that have
spikes and falls in popularity, said James
Grant, director of USC Media Relations.
He said he believes the influx of crime
and media coverage will pass.
“This has been a very unusual year in
terms of high-profile incidents that have
received national attention,” Grant said.
“I’m not 100 percent sure whether this
has had a negative impact on us or not;
we hope that it wouldn’t.”
Director of Public Relations Studies
and Strategic PR Center at Annenberg
School for Communication Jerry
Swerling said although people may be-lieve
stories involving crime and USC
have tarnished the university’s image,
the headlines will not be harmful from
a public relations standpoint if the situa-tion
does not worsen.
“Will these crimes cause serious reper-cussions
for the university on a scale of
one to 10?” Swerling said. “It’s extremely
important, but would I give it a nine or
10? No. Probably a five or six, unless
these crimes continue to happen.”
Because the university has only seen
an uptick in high-profile crimes over the
last year, the events are still sporadic
enough to not raise alarm, Swerling
said.
“Each of these incidents individually
has been a terrible event, but we haven’t
seen something like a ‘crime wave’ yet,”
Swerling said. “If we saw something spe-cifically
orchestrated against students,
or if we run into another series of crimes,
and if these events become [sustained]
over a period of time, then that has the
potential to cause problems.”
Department of Public Safety Capt.
David Carlisle said he has not noticed a
“crime wave” or trend, and crime itself
is on a general downward trend: Violent
crime has decreased by 53 percent in the
last two years, and robberies are down 59
percent since last year in the USC area.
“A larger percentage of our crimes
have become high-profile,” Carlisle said.
“But when you associate a crime with the
USC name, we are such a high-profile
brand that it’s just going to generate
University’s image not shaken by crime, students say
Many upperclassmen say they have
noticed different types of crime near
USC, but have become ‘numb’ to it.
| see reaction, page 2 |
Thursday
The impact of this year’s crime and area
safety on local community members.
Check out the Daily Trojan’s
coverage of how this year has
affected safety at USC.
Crime & Safety
Adriano Goldschmied, founder of Diesel, and Jerome Dahan, founder and chief executive
officer of Citizens of Humanity, spoke Monday in Harris Hall as part of a fashion lecture
series sponsored by the Roski School of Fine Arts and the Marshall School of Business.
Captains of fashion Amaresh Sundaram Kuppuswamy | Daily Trojan
How to avoid swine flu:
v
v
v
v
Wash your hands often with both soap
and hot water.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose and
mouth, which are easy places to spread
germs.
Cover your mouth and nose when you
sneeze or cough and wash your hands
afterward.
If you develop a fever or other symp-toms
of the flu, including cough or sore
throat, see a doctor immediately, es-pecially
if you have had contact with
someone who recently had swine flu or
a severe respiratory illness.
Leon Russo | Daily Trojan
Special Wednesday Supplement:
The Daily Trojan examines
Obama’s first 100 days.